Lineup chnages have little effect on Puppets' sound
By JOE REISING
Scene Music Critic
The Meat Puppets seem to belong to another generation of rock 'n' roll bands — a time when bands worked hard for years, finally lit up in a huge bright flame of stardom then burned out from overdoses or violent internal conflicts. Yet with its latest release, Golden Lies, the Puppets push beyond this process, overcoming a volatile fall from fame to churn out yet another testament to the band's resilience.
Consisting of brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood and drummer Derrick Bostrom, the band formed in the early '80s in Arizona and had three critically acclaimed albums before breaking up in the early nineties. The Puppets quickly reformed and reached its commercial peak after opening Nirvana's In Utero tour in 1993. The band also helped play three covers of songs off of its 1984 album Meat Puppets II on Nirvana's Unplugged in New York album.
This increased recognition helped 1994's Too High to Die go gold and the single "Backwater" almost broke into the top 40. However, success soon bred self destruction for Cris Kirkwood who began heavily abusing cocaine and heroin during a tour with the Stone Temple Pilots.
1995's No Joke album went nowhere, in part because the record company failed to market it once they found out about Cris's drug problems. Cris kept getting worse, and while never officially kicked out of the band, he essentially stopped playing with the Puppets after 1995 as his addictions consumed him.
And though Cris Kirkwood is apparently sorting out his drug problems now, he does not make an appearance on Golden Lies, the Puppets' first album since the release of No Joke nearly six years ago.
The album starts out with looped Cameroon tribal singing over a breakbeat and spacey synth waterfalls. Electronic sampling might not be the Meat Puppets forte, but the brief "Intro" sounds great and unfortunately nothing like it reappears until the very last minutes of the album.
"Armed and Stupid" starts out in an '80s shred riff but breaks into a decent chorus that makes it worthy of past Puppets work. "I Quit" has an even catchier chorus, and while singing about "the rotten rope" and the "path of your evil glow," the song manages to come across as fairly uplifting.
Unfortunately, from there the album hits a long slump with songs like "Lamp" and "Pieces of Me," both slow heavy rockers with bland lyrics. When Curt Kirkwood gets a little more imaginative, as he often attempts to do, the results are not always more inspiring. In "Hercules" he sings "I've got a problem/ I've just been molested by a prehistoric goblin/ From Mars with a Martian eyeball/ And it's just like a jellyfish nailed to a wall."
The monster and alien metaphors pop up consistently throughout the album and besides making the songs harder to take seriously, it also dates the band. Rob Zombie not withstanding, it has been awhile since horror movie imagery made good ideas for rock songs. In fact over half the songs on the album, with their shred ready riffs and wah-wah wailings, seem like they could have been originally released two decades ago.
Things definitely brighten up, however, with "Push the button," the album's standout song. Cheerful guitar flourishes accompany a bright rhythm that is as much Carribean as country two-step. "Tarantula" and "Endless wave" keep up the brighter vibe, and as hard as it may be to believe, "Endless wave" seems to have some discernible new wave elements.
The biggest surprise on Golden Lies, however, comes at the end of the album, closer to "Fatboy/Fat/Requiem." After the forgettable Fatboy/Fat part, the requiem begins, first with a steel guitar/techno fuzz introduction, then the whining of a mandolin, the deep thump of an ultra slow waltz and sighing chorus, finally erased by howling electronic wind.
Like the looped samples and synths in the intro, "Requiem" seems completely out of context with the Puppets' early work, yet the band pulls it off remarkably well. It would have been interesting to see a whole album of this kind of studio noodling, but the final product would have been unrecognizable as a Meat Puppets album.
As it is, Golden Lies is unmistakably a Meat Puppets album even though Curt Kirkwood is the only original member left in the band. Missing, however, are the bright country rhythms and playful guitar solos that made 1994's Too High to die so fun to listen to. Instead, Curt Kirkwood prefers to play heavier metal inspired riffs that drag the album down in the middle.
It is tempting to think that for Curt Kirkwood, now 42, it might be the time to call it quits to a successful 20 year career. However, songs like "I Quit" and "Push the Button" prove that the Puppets still have a few good albums left in them. Perhaps Cris Kirkwood may even join them once again and make the greatest Meat Puppets album ever.
Did someone just say "Behind the Music" special?
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, February 6, 2001
